1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming method for recording an image including plural pixels by using an image-forming material not completely permeating into a recording medium so as to form an image with a thickness and applying the material by material-applying means, and to an image-forming apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an image-forming method and an image-forming apparatus for forming a relief image by using the material.
2. Description of Related Art
As a relief image formed by a printer, there have been an image formed as a by-product of coloration in which small unevenness is in some cases formed depending upon overlapping degree of the toners in electrophotography, thus appearing like a relief image (JP-A-5-6033).
Also, as an apparatus for intentionally forming a relief image, there have been an apparatus for preventing forgery having a constitution of providing an image in an uneven portion of an optically changeable ink whereby an image appears with change in reflected light depending upon the viewing angle (JP-A-2006-123355) and an apparatus having a constitution of transferring on a transfer material a formation layer and a dying layer for hologram (JP-A-2006-218847). Further, as a technique of imparting a larger thickness to an image, there is a wall painting-like constitution of, for example, imparting unevenness to a base using gypsum or a resin material and then painting an image thereon.
In particular, a printer capable of forming an image with a larger thickness forms a relief image by imparting heat energy to an ink containing a blowing agent to form a foam, and solidifying the foam as such to provide a thickness. Such relief image technique is applied to screen printing for printing a recording medium, such as a trainer or a t-shirt, stationary, or to a base film for use in foamed prints.
This apparatus involves the environmental problem due to use of an organic solvent as a blowing agent and the problem of limitation as to material to be recorded due to heating, and there has been made the following proposal.
That is, there has been proposed an apparatus for forming an relief image by using an ink containing a light-sensitive material, a solvent capable of dissolving it, and a film-forming resin, recording an arbitrary image on a non-fluid-absorbing material to be recorded using an inkjet image-forming unit, and irradiating the recorded image with ultraviolet rays to thereby form an image based on the action of the film-forming resin to maintain the generated gas in a foam shape (JP-A-8-60054).
However, the proposal of JP-A-5-6033 is to provide a coating layer on the uneven relief so as to remove uneven appearance, and it is not performed to control the thickness of the toner relief thickness on the image side. In JP-A-2006-123355, only a one-layer ink constitution is disclosed, and a multi-layer constitution is not disclosed. Also, requirement for unevenness is directed to only a monotonous thickness, and sophisticated control of relief thickness is not performed. In JP-A-2006-218847, the layer as a relief for hologram and the dye layer for expressing color are formed as different layers, and the relief layer utilizes a definite thickness, thus sophisticated thickness control not being performed. Further, with JP-A-8-60054, though thickness of the relief image is controlled at an arbitrary position thereof, the foamed state of the foam-forming gas and the thickness of the film-forming resin to be formed by inkjet ejection do not completely coincide, resulting in uneven color formation and formation of unnecessary unevenness.